Oh...I forgot to mention I wrote and illustrated a children's book to raise money. I once had an English prof. tell me to get published it takes at least 100 reject slips and an incredible amount of being in the right place at the right time. I am on about 30 rejects so far. I lost steam but have not given up completely. I have been given some great advice and encouragement along the path of rejection. My friendly critics have said, "It is not finished."
The story is a short allegory of our journey to St. Croix.
The "book" began in the fall of 2004 as a sort of marriage therapy. I was in my car with my 5 year old son. We were listening to NPR on the radio. They were talking about fox and beaver personalities. Foxes, of course, are curious, clever and shy. Beavers are HARD working, focused and friendly. The host sited Bill Clinton and George W as foxes and Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill as beavers. Out of the mouths of babes my son said, "That is you and Dad!"
I knew we were opposites. The preacher who married us, John Splinter, told us we were about as far apart on the Meyers -Briggs Personality Test as two people could get. He said, opposites attract, obviously. He warned us however, that we would hit some walls in life that would try our marriage to the core. In the fall of 2004 we were hitting one, the biggest one we had faced in 17 years. The wall had a name, Anheuser-Busch.
I don't have time to tell-all I know about the soon to be forgotten Empire of Anheuser-Busch. It will make an interesting book and I am leaving that to my friend at the Wall Street Journal, David Kesmodel. But, to give you a hint, as a wife of an executive I was NOT allowed on the grounds of the castle without a lawyer. It had gotten that bad, wives sued and WON! I don't have a lawyer and I did not want to sue. I just wanted my husband back.
The book evolved during the crazy, scary, adventure we had when we decided, as a husband and wife, to risk "sure" financial security and follow the spirit of the Bible.
